Ryszard Kpuscinski, the celebrated Polish journalist, once wrote of the Other. He spoke of the remains of marketplaces, the remains of harbours, trade routes such as the silk road and of ports - places where cargoes arrive, people exchange thoughts, ideas and goods, do deals, make friends and have good times together.

Hull was set up as a port City – a staithe to dispatch a ransom of wool to release Richard the Lionheart from prison in Bavaria. Since then, this port City has grown and shaped the character not of a people stuck at the end of a line but of people in the middle of flows: of trade, of people and their stories. Rob Bell is from Hull and has been away for many years. This talk takes a look at Hull from afar and explores the role the port has played in the story down to now and into the future.

Rivers

This is the story in words and song of Hull, Port City framed and defined by two rivers. Going back to the staithes where wool was sent to pay a ransom for Richard the Lionheart; into the shipyards where slave ships and even the Bounty were built; the stories flow thick and fast with tales from Monkey Island and the press gangs drifting down Beverley Road looking for the love lorn to man their ship.

The History Troupe players, Dave Gawthorpe, Mick McGarry, Emily Thomson and Lyn Acton are all in on the act. Let’s get down to those ships and staithes; set keel to breakers and go forth on the Godly Sea.